Orange Touts Broadband Push-to-Talk Service for Paris 2024 Olympics

Edited Article 15-007-2024

To ensure reliability the Olympics Push-to-Talk (PTT) service will be prioritized over other voice traffic on the 4G network.

The company highlighted how 13,000 cellphones will be supported by the technology that operates over a priority 4G network during a media conference on July 9, in advance of the major event, which starts on July 26.

In order to assure stability, the PTT service will be given priority over other voice traffic on the 4G network, according to Bertrand Rojat, CTIO of Orange Events and the Paris Olympics 2024.

Rojat said the service will be used by “event volunteers, the Olympic committee, security services, athlete teams, health and safety; many people that are behind the scenes”.

Although Rojat stated that this is the first Olympics event where a PTT service has run over an operator's current mobile network, Orange did not disclose exactly who Orange is working with to ensure the prioritized 4G voice network service is up to the task in hand. Previous PTT services have relied on TETRA networks (a global narrow band standard for mission critical communications defined by ETSI), for example.

Although PTT is not new — more than 20 years ago, operators began offering PTT services (the former US operator Nextel had a sizable customer base for its PTT service, which used Motorola's iDEN network technology). Earlier this year, T-Mobile US and Motorola Solutions collaborated to launch a PTT service aimed at first responders, businesses, and government agencies.

Talk Now, another Orange PTT service, was introduced in Europe 20 years ago. It let members of a group utilize their cell phones as walkie-talkies by only pressing a button to communicate with other group members who were also enrolled.

Among the digital products on display at today's media conference was the operator's Paris Olympics 2024 PTT service. The company is constructing a stand-alone private 5G network that broadcasters will be able to access at strategic locations across the games. As previously reported, the company is the only official connectivity provider for the enormous event.

Approximately one thousand employees of Orange, including technicians and program managers, are working on the event's preparations.